Washington DC Trip Day 4

Today we visited the Air and Space Museum.

Jon loved the rockets. I think that because he's an engineer, he thinks he's a rocket scientist...this is the V2 rocket, the first guided missile.

The Spirit of St. Louis, was the first plane to cross the Atlantic in one trip. Oh there were tons of little tidbits all day...I'm not sure where he keeps this info, he can't remember a 3 item grocery list, but he's got tons and tons of history facts.

I was most saddened that they have kicked Pluto out of the Solar System. On several of the exhibits he was just blocked out. I'm proposing a movement to NEVER FORGET PLUTO!! Poor guy.

The museum is divided into 2 sides, space stuff was on one side, and planes were on the other.

There is no way I would every fly in this. Ever.

Space capsule.

I don't think it's my size.

After the museum we headed to the Botanical Garden. It was really neat. They had different areas, like Jungle, Desert, etc. We loved this pool...I got to see a reflecting pool anyway!

Log bridge.

This was in the desert area, I thought it looked creepy..

We made a hummingbird friend.

I'm an ivy arch monster. The Butterfly Princess declined to have his picture taken in the foliage.

They had a whole room full of orchids. I love orchids.

Pretty.

Team Rodgers loves fountains. We stumbled upon this one on our way to the subway station.

We had dinner at an Italian place tonight. It was recommended by the hotel staff. The food was OK, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Tomorrow we're headed up north to see the other Air and Space museum. It should be an interesting day.

Jessica

Washington DC Trip Day 3

Day 3 ended up being a very long day. Fun, but long.

We probably walked 3.5 trillion miles today.

We started the day off with breakfast in the hotel. A quick metro ride, and we were back down in the National Mall. The weather seemed to be nice, so we were going to walk and see all the monuments.

Spirits were high. I have a hat.

They are currently working on the Washington Monument because there is a crack in it from the earthquake that happened about a month ago. You know if a woman were in charge of that project it would be finished and the fine people of America could go up inside the monument, like our forefathers intended.

The World War II Memorial was next on the circuit. It was really nice, I'm partial to fountains.

Each end of the memorial had these big wreath things..they were neat.

Next would be the famous Reflecting Pool...oh no wait..it's a giant mud hole. Way to go America, no Washington Monument, no Reflecting Pool...geeze, why did we even bother? The length of the pool probably wouldn't have seen like it took an eternity if there was some water to look at, but alas...no water. It was almost lunch time, and my feet were feeling like bloody stumps.

Chillin' with Lincoln.

The Vietnam War Memorial.

There are no happy faces for Jon.

But because of his excellent photography skills, I am a magical unicorn!

The WWI Memorial..not at fancy.

We saw the White House. I hate to say it, but I was a little disappointed.

The Library of Congress.

It was a really pretty building.

However, my traveling companion told me that the Constitution was housed in this building..it is not. To see that particular document, it will require another trip..to a different building.

On the bright side, there was a beautiful fountain out in front of the building.

We got the thumbs up for our Capitol building.

The Rotunda. We spent entirely too much time to just get a picture of this. We had to be part of a group, and walk with the group and wait for the group to get to the elevator...I really just wanted to take pictures and leave. Our "guide" wasn't really a guide at all. All we wanted was to take the remnants of our bloody foot-stumps back to the metro station and back to the hotel.

We were so exhausted that we ate in the restaurant at the top of our hotel. We're turning in early tonight. Slated for tomorrow is one of the Air and Space Museums, the U.S. Botanical Gardens, and the National Archives...where the Constitution lives.

Jessica

Washington DC Trip Day 2

Day 2 was a full day for Team Rodgers.

We are officially Metro riding pros. We can navigate the map and switch lines with the best of them. It's a fantastic system here.

This morning we walked a few blocks to Ceasar's Diner for breakfast. It was pretty delicious. A few more blocks took us to the Metro station. It took us across the river and dropped us off right in the middle of the National Mall.

Today we hit the Museum of Natural History.

They had fish, I knew it was going to be a good day. They had tons of fish and ocean critters on display.

But nothing can hold a candle to Nemo,

And Dory.

This was a special exhibit. This artist made these to mimic the bioluminescence of deep sea creatures. I loved it. They looked like giant jelly fish.

Beautiful.

They had a whole exhibit about what it means to be human, and how we evolved to get where we are today. We discovered some of Jon's ancestors...

Only a nerd can appreciate this part. It was talking about evolution and what we have to deal with today, mainly the diseases and such. It's glass microbes! Influenza virus, HIV, bubonic plague...they were amazing!

I want some. Really bad, these are way cooler than the plushie ones on the internet.

Yay giraffes.

I'm learning how a lion's claws work. RAWR!

T-Rex...they really had a little bit of everything.

Jon's favorite is the stegosaurus.

Oh, and I've decided I need something of my own to compete with the Hope Diamond. This is the temporary setting that the public voted on. It's going to be returned to it's historical setting in the next month or so. It's pretty, real pretty.

We saw rocks. Colored rocks.

Square rocks.

Even glow in the dark rocks.

They had a preview of an exhibit that was coming soon, the Egyptian exhibit..I'm a little sad we missed it.

They have insects. I don't like bees. These bees have their hive right here, down below there is a tube that goes through the wall of the museum so they can go outside and get pollen...so basically the Smithsonian is spewing bees..you've been warned.

Black widow.

They have an indoor butterfly garden. The Butterfly Princess insisted that we see it (he's on the right). We've been in one before when we went to the Omaha zoo.

This butterfly was huge!

They raise them in the museum, so they have a constant supply of butterflies.

Pretty.

It didn't take all day so we headed across the Mall to look around in the Smithsonian Castle. It didn't have much, but it was a really neat building.

We headed back to the room to get ready for dinner with Jon's aunt and uncle. It was so nice to finally meet them. We had a great time. We ate at Morton's Steakhouse. I had chicken, but it was the best chicken I may have ever had in my life.

Tomorrow is still up in the air. If the weather is nice we are going back to the Mall to visit all the monuments. If the weather is not nice, we'll be going back to the Mall to visit another museum..probably the Air and Space Museum. Either way, it's going to be a good day.

Jessica